On October 9, 2025, around 60 participants gathered at TU Graz for this year’s ESBS-Austria conference, which explored the impact of Electronics and Software-Based Systems – from cutting-edge research to market adoption and digital sovereignty.
The event, moderated by ESBS-Austria Chair Stefan Rohringer, brought together experts from academia, research, industry, and public administration to discuss current developments shaping Europe’s electronics and software-based systems landscape.
Conference Highlights
The morning session focused on Research & Enabling Technologies, providing updates on the European Chips Act 2.0, Chips JU, and related Austrian initiatives. Topics included Agentic AI, collaborative value chain approaches, and the long-term perspectives for the Austrian semiconductor industry and its RTI ecosystem.
Participants took part in guided tours through selected TU Graz laboratories, offering insights into cutting-edge research on PMF sensing and imaging systems, on-wafer mm-wave measurement systems, and ‘Antennenmesskammer Messungen’ The afternoon block, under the theme Digital Sovereignty & Market Adoption, featured presentations on the European Connected & Autonomous Vehicle Alliance (ECAVA), current Software-defined Vehicle (SDV) projects and AT-C3 Service Portfolio.
Special thanks to Arian Zwegers and Max Lemke from the European Commission for joining remotely!
Young Academics Award 2025
A special highlight of the event was the "Young Academics Award 2025”, recognizing outstanding Bachelor’s and Master’s theses with a focus on ESBS topics. This year’s three awardees briefly and gave a short insight into their topics to an interested audience. The following winners were rewarded with €2000,- each:
- Jana Katharina Tiffner, Montanuniversität Leoben, Topic. Analyse der Flexibilitätspotenziale im Energiesystem der AT&S Hinterberg
- Juan Diego Barboza, University of Padua (thesis conducted at Silicon Austria Labs; joined remotely from Costa Rica), Topic: Development of recycling strategies using bio-based polymers for the recovery of metallic particles from the conductive inks in flexible printed electronics
- Anna Glaser, TU Graz, Topic: Unsupervised Anomaly Detection and On-Device Reasoning for Industrial Safety Monitoring
The conference concluded with a lively panel discussion titled 'From Leading Chips Technology to Market Adoption – EU Single and Global Markets', exploring how Europe can bridge technological excellence and market adoption in an increasingly competitive global landscape.
